Warrant: Woman found in container dead a few days in bedroom before being moved

Emergency workers responded to a report of a body found in the Haw River near Mill Race Road on Tuesday afternoon, though it turned out to be the remains of a deer.

Sam Roberts / Times-News

By Natalie Allison Janicello / Times-News

Published: Tuesday, April 15, 2014 at 07:22 PM.

The woman accused of concealing the death of her acquaintance and setting fire to her own home told officers she didn’t act entirely alone.

According to search warrants, Angela Bookout Frazier, 43, told investigators that Deedra Louise Washburn, 41, lay dead in a bedroom for several days before Frazier, with the help of a man, moved Washburn’s body into a plastic bin.

The search warrants, obtained by Burlington police to collect records from Frazier’s and another man’s cellphone lines, indicate that two people who knew Washburn and Frazier told investigators the women were good friends, and possibly had been in a dating relationship.

The warrant stated that the two people who provided information to police believed that Frazier “was taking Washburn’s Social Security money.”

Frazier, of 1039 Washington St., was charged Sunday with burning one’s own dwelling and concealment of a death, and police allege she set fire to her house around 11 a.m. Friday, a couple hours after a Department of Transportation worker discovered a female body in a blue storage bin on the side of Bellemont-Mount Hermon Road.

The body was later identified as belonging to Washburn, of 1904 Morningside Drive, who authorities say stayed at Frazier’s residence sometimes.

The woman accused of concealing the death of her acquaintance and setting fire to her own home told officers she didn’t act entirely alone.

According to search warrants, Angela Bookout Frazier, 43, told investigators that Deedra Louise Washburn, 41, lay dead in a bedroom for several days before Frazier, with the help of a man, moved Washburn’s body into a plastic bin.

The search warrants, obtained by Burlington police to collect records from Frazier’s and another man’s cellphone lines, indicate that two people who knew Washburn and Frazier told investigators the women were good friends, and possibly had been in a dating relationship.

The warrant stated that the two people who provided information to police believed that Frazier “was taking Washburn’s Social Security money.”

Frazier, of 1039 Washington St., was charged Sunday with burning one’s own dwelling and concealment of a death, and police allege she set fire to her house around 11 a.m. Friday, a couple hours after a Department of Transportation worker discovered a female body in a blue storage bin on the side of Bellemont-Mount Hermon Road.

The body was later identified as belonging to Washburn, of 1904 Morningside Drive, who authorities say stayed at Frazier’s residence sometimes.

ACCORDING TO search warrants, when Burlington firefighters responded to the fire at Frazier’s home on Washington Street, they were unable to enter through the front door because it had been barricaded by a dresser. They entered through a front window, and while battling the fire, discovered fires in each of Frazier’s three bedrooms, intentionally set at separate points of origin.

Officers spoke with the landlord of the residence, who provided them with Frazier’s cellphone number. While attempting to locate Frazier to check on her welfare and speak to her about the fire, police contacted Frazier’s mother, who provided her with a phone number to reach Washburn. The warrant indicated that Frazier’s mother assumed Washburn would know Frazier’s whereabouts.

When police called the number for Washburn, they spoke with one of the two people who later provided information about the nature of Washburn’s and Frazier’s relationship — and who believed Frazier had taken Washburn’s money.

Those two people identified Washburn as the victim found in the storage bin Friday, the warrant stated, based on photos authorities took of tattoos on Washburn’s body and a jacket she was wearing.

POLICE DIDN’T FIND Frazier until Saturday evening, when she was located near Morningside Drive, Capt. Jeff Wood previously said. Frazier consented to an interview with Burlington Police Department investigators that night, and was arrested just after midnight Sunday.

The warrants state that Frazier told investigators Washburn died in a bedroom at Frazier’s home, though they didn’t say on which date.

Frazier “advised that she had left Washburn there for several days” before moving her body into a tote with the help of a man. She claimed she subsequently used the man’s vehicle to drive by herself to Bellemont-Mount Hermon Road, “where she dumped the tote containing Washburn on the side of the road.”

Frazier also admitted to starting the fire at her house after Washburn’s body was discovered.

Frazier told investigators that another man was in and out of her house for several days while Washburn’s body remained in one of the bedrooms. Investigators interviewed the man, who said he was at Frazier’s house Thursday, “which would place him at the scene of where Washburn’s deceased body laid for approximately several days prior,” the warrant stated.

The man, whom police questioned Saturday, told them he knew nothing about Washburn’s death, the discovery of her body and the fire that occurred at Frazier’s residence.

Police seized his cellphone at the time of the interview, and obtained a search warrant for its records Monday.

No one else has been charged in connection with the crime, though Wood said Monday that authorities are still investigating whether others were involved.